Archangel's Heart(88)

Lijuan’s colors.

“Valerius! Xander!” She pointed up.

To their credit, they didn’t question her, just stepped back, opened their wings, and took off. Elena gritted her teeth and made a vertical takeoff, Aodhan right behind her. The others of their party must’ve spotted the four of them, because they rose into the air not long afterward, Magnus heading out on his stallion beneath them.

It didn’t take long for everyone to figure out why they were airborne.

Lijuan’s squadron was a growing smudge on the horizon.

Elena, I am on my way. Raphael’s voice, the sea dark and stormy.

I’m very glad to hear that, Archangel. Because if that squadron was hiding Lijuan in its midst, they were all going to be in bad, bad trouble.




Raphael had broken up the meeting the instant he got Aodhan’s message. For once, no one argued, the entire Cadre lifting off in a rush of violent power that had the Luminata staring up at them.

Raphael didn’t bother to tell those of the sect what was going on—if Lijuan was coming this way, everyone would know soon enough. He flew at archangelic speed, spotted Elena within minutes. She and Aodhan were in the middle of the group heading toward Lumia, Xander and Valerius leading. Get behind us.

Raphael—

I know. That she’d never let him go into war against Lijuan alone. I need you safe until I know if it’s Lijuan we’re facing. And the Archangel of Death isn’t the only threat in the air. It’d be easy for one of the other archangels to “accidentally” send Elena tumbling from the sky.

Shit, yeah, I get it. She and Aodhan dropped in preparation for passing under the Cadre.

Xander and Valerius dropped a second later, with the others following like dominoes. The two parties passed each other a minute later, going in opposite directions. But Raphael knew Elena and Aodhan would be turning to stay on the Cadre’s tail. Not only because they were stubborn and loyal, but because of a truth no one else in the Cadre could ever know: that Raphael’s power to hurt Lijuan was rooted in how Elena had made him “a little bit mortal.”

He carried a piece of his hunter in his blood. And while the wildfire was too powerful to truly live in Elena, touches of it burned through her blood nonetheless, for it was a creation of life and his hunter burned so very bright. Elena, Aodhan, tell me if the members of the Cadre behind me make any unexpected movements.

Got it.

Sire.

The Luminata’s protective squadron had risen into the air ahead of them, dropped so suddenly Raphael knew one of the other archangels had ordered them down. The leader of that squadron had a brain that he’d obeyed so quickly and efficiently; he’d taken his squadron down but kept it in battle-ready formation on a low flight path to the left of the Cadre.

Ahead of them, Lijuan’s squadron made an unanticipated move: they began to drop slowly, in a fashion that telegraphed their intention to make a landing. The Luminata squadron flew forward and landed behind them, close enough to be a threat, far enough away not to step on the Cadre’s toes.

Raphael and the other archangels waited until Lijuan’s entire squadron was down before they landed. It wasn’t planned, but they ended up in a neat, straight line all the way across. Somehow, Raphael wound up at the center of the line, face to face with the squadron leader. “Do you escort Lijuan?” he asked the square-jawed blond male with eyes of blue.

“No. I have a message from my lady.” He held out a sealed envelope with both hands, formal and practiced.

Michaela, standing next to Raphael, was the one who took the envelope. “It took an entire squadron to deliver this?”

The squadron leader didn’t react to the acid in Michaela’s voice. “We had to be certain the Luminata guard would permit us access to the Cadre. Our instructions were to hand the letter to only the archangels as a group.”

That made a certain amount of sense.

Of course, it also made sense that Lijuan was in her noncorporeal form and the squadron’s task was to distract them while the Archangel of China readied herself to strike. Then the squadron leader bowed from the waist. “My instructions are to return as soon as I have completed my task.”

“I assume none of us wish to delay him?” Neha said coolly before nodding to the squadron leader, who’d risen back to his full height. “You have performed your task as asked. Good journey.”

The blond male seemed to unbend a fraction. “I thank you, Lady Neha.”

He spoke a command in Mandarin Chinese and the squadron lifted off as one. The Luminata squadron followed them out, but Raphael knew they’d stop at the border to Lumia. Aodhan.

I have it, sire.